Gauntlets

some on screen examples

Analysis of the letters

On the gauntlets of many Klingon uniforms, one can see four letters b r c d, which are b r ch D. They first appeared in 1984 on Commander Kruge's arms in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Their mapping to the currently used Klingon alphabet known as pIqaD is a pure coincidence, since that alphabet was created after the first appearance of those gauntlets, although it was certainly based on those glyphs. The symbols displayed are just meaningless symbols at the time of creation.

Sometimes, the gauntlets - or only the letters - were worn upside down. Some people may read other letters on them, but their mapping is pretty clear.

Interpretations

The true meaning of those letters will never be revealed, since the symbols used during the TV show were intentionally meaningless. (1)

Several people have tried to attribute a meaning to those letters, assuming it to mean something like the Roman military abbreviation "SPQR":b r ch D - batlhhonor, raDforce, charghconquer, Dujinstincts